An Experimental Study on Gill Cells Effect in Very Large Floating Structures

When very large floating structure) VLFS (is heavily loaded in the central portion, the difference deflection between its central section and its corners would increase. One cost effective solution for reducing the differential deflection is gill cell. Gill cells are compartments in the VLFS that the buoyancy forces are eliminated at their locations. In this study, for examine the gill cells behavior, an experimental model was fabricated. Results showed that model with 10% of gill cells had best performance in difference deflection reduction. Also, model with 5% of gill cells and triangular arrangement in its corners had highest degree of bending moment reduction. Dynamic experiments results showed that the use of gill cells against the waves isn’t effective.